Oftentimes, such as in emergency situations, protective garments (e.g., soft body armor vests, hard body armor vests, safety vests, and other protective outer garments) need to be removed quickly. For example, when a soldier or law enforcement officer is wearing a protective vest and is injured or incapacitated, in order to provide immediate medical attention, the protective vest typically needs to be removed as quickly as possible. Similarly, a soldier in danger of drowning from being weighed down by protective outer garments along with the equipment and ammunition thereon, may save himself by quickly removing his protective outer garments. A protective garment may also need to be removed quickly, simply so the wearer may quickly change gear and put on other protective outer garments.
Among those benefits and improvements that have been disclosed, other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures. The figures constitute a part of this specification and include illustrative embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof.